I currently have a ceton infintv 4 in my htpc. i have the shark codec pak as well. Everything has been working fine for months. This morning I watched some TV on my extender and than work. Now I am trying to watch TV in the basement, I am getting a decoder error message that states:

the video decoder is not working, is not installed or is not supported. Try installing the codec or restarting your compuer. for more info see windows...

A couple of things. When I opened upWMC, I do not here the WMC jingle, secondly, when open media browser and play a movie, i see the video but can't hear anything. I did uninstall and and then reinstalled the LAV codecs, but the problems continues.

I can watch and hear videos over the internet, hbogo, etc, any suggestions. Thanks

i have the shark codec pak as well.... I did uninstall and and then reinstalled the LAV codecs, but the problems continues.

If you have LAV installed separately from my codec pack you will have decoder conflicts.
You either install my codecs (which include lav) OR lav standalone, but not both.

EDIT: I should add that both must be uninstalled and then install only one of the two. The reason you need to uninstall both is that uninstalling either one will remove registry keys that the other needs.

Apologies guys. I was in a rush and didn't realize how poorly written my initial post was.

First, when I accessed WMC via the XBOX extender, that worked. Secondly, I unistalled and then reinstalled Sharks codec not LAV as initially stated. Shark's pack is the only one on my PC. Thirdly, when I said "watching TV in the basement" , I should have said watching or accessing WMC directly on my HTPC and not using an extender.

Laslty, i have since gone back on the extender to see that has somehow stopped working but WMC is being accessed perfectly well via the extender. It comes on with the WMC jingle along with the different navigational sounds as I go through the menu

Apologies guys. I was in a rush and didn't realize how poorly written my initial post was.

First, when I accessed WMC via the XBOX extender, that worked. Secondly, I unistalled and then reinstalled Sharks codec not LAV as initially stated. Shark's pack is the only one on my PC. Thirdly, when I said "watching TV in the basement" , I should have said watching or accessing WMC directly on my HTPC and not using an extender.

Laslty, i have since gone back on the extender to see that has somehow stopped working but WMC is being accessed perfectly well via the extender. It comes on with the WMC jingle along with the different navigational sounds as I go through the menu

What is a UAC, i know for sure that I did not intentionally lower or disable it. Now I already did what you suggested, but i didn't do the reboot in between, i am assuming that this is a critical step, if so why?

UAC = User Account Control
The fact that you do not know what it is = you didn't touch the setting.

Things you should have done . . .
Have you updated the video drivers from the gpu manufacturer?
Have you installed MEI drivers from Intel? (assuming you have an Intel chipset on your motherboard)
Have you updated Windows through Windows Update?

Our recommendation is to start by removing any codec packs that you have installed. We find in many cases that the removal of codec packs resolves this issue. If it persists, I would recommend that you update your video drivers next.

Our recommendation is to start by removing any codec packs that you have installed. We find in many cases that the removal of codec packs resolves this issue. If it persists, I would recommend that you update your video drivers next.

The codec pack that iI have is sharks which is somehing that I need to play video in the first place. I will try to update the video drivers, but that still does not explain why it use to work. Lastly, can anyone explain why my extender still play bit not the htpc. Thanks

Wow shark you came down a little hard on the Ceton guy. For what it is worth, my Ceton tuner has absolutely worked fine for the last several months and frankly, I'm not to sure if the tuner is the problem, like I mentioned, the the channels on my xbox are coming through nice and clear. Before I update any drivers , I will unistall your codec pack restart the computer and then reinstall it as you suggested to see what happens, I will aslo try to unistall any windows updates that may have happened over the last 3-4 days.

A lot of enthusiasts frown on codec packs but the rest of us use them every day without issue on our HTPC anyhow. To frown on a method that actually provides high quality playback is not understandable to me. I think that my playback graphs are clean on my HTPC but mucked up on the echo but have no way to view them as graph studio doesn't work on an extender. This is frustrating as all get out for me. If it weren't for DVR duty I would just use a streaming box for playback of local content.

I understand this too but am still perplexed as to why this is occurring only on extenders. I can playback mkv's on my echo but not all mkv's. I think that the android solution with all splitting and rendering of the playback done on the echo is a way to have a clean playback graph. Something's going on with splitting on the HTPC and feeding that to the echo for more "intense" (for a lack of a better word) mkv's ripped from Blu-ray without being altered.

To expand on my earlier post, the reason that we ask customers to remove codec packs is we have seen instances where removing a codec pack resolves the issue. We have tested with codec packs in the past, and while some work fine, others (or certain settings) do break protected TV content.

In addition to the customer issues we have seen caused by codec packs, I have seen many negative things said about them from the Windows Developers for DirectShow and related technologies during my tenure at Microsoft.

As we have no involvement in the codec stack (that is all MS + any codecs that are installed) there is little more we can do than attempt to identify issues and work with the parties to resolve them. In the past, we have attempted to reach out to a codec pack manufacturer to resolve such an issue and they were not receptive. Unfortunately, there is little more we can do beyond offering to work with them.

To be fair, I would not blame ceton for this... I can understand how you are upset that everyone states and blames the codec packs but removing them is a good troubleshooting step especially dealing with WMC... The real problem is WMC and cablecard tuners and WMC interpreting the smallest thing as not being compliant with their protected path... I do use WMC and cablecard tuners and the only codec pack I tell people I trust with it is shark007 however even I have set things wrong in it and found it easiest to uninstall to fix problems that I caused through the use of it (I swear sometimes reverting what I just changed sometimes doesn't work). In this case I know enough that I can blame me, as I clicked the little box and messed things up and you can blame me, but a third party will more than likely blame the codec pack since it is the technical (root) cause of the problem rather than attacking the user as the one to blame. Then of course, once I get it back working, a resinstall of it using recommended settings usually works.

However this error sounds like it may be tied to using an AVR (usually) and often disabling the navigation sounds fixes this... I have also heard of people being able to fix it by outputting the sound to something other than hdmi with some success... if it is the error I am thinking of, it implies its a video error but is really an audio error (I believe it has something to do with pcm stereo navigation sounds and 5.1 dolby digital of the program).

By the way Shark007, I do appreciate the hard work you have put into making your codec pack available and I know your efforts are not as appreciated and recognized as they should be. As I said earlier, they are the only ones I trust with WMC... all the others I would actually blame them rather than WMC or user error as I know you have taken great strides to ensure it works and recommend the right settings for WMC. Hopefully most of the people I have recommended them to over the years have donated at least something.

To expand on my earlier post, the reason that we ask customers to remove codec packs is we have seen instances where removing a codec pack resolves the issue. We have tested with codec packs in the past, and while some work fine, others (or certain settings) do break protected TV content.

In addition to the customer issues we have seen caused by codec packs, I have seen many negative things said about them from the Windows Developers for DirectShow and related technologies during my tenure at Microsoft.

As we have no involvement in the codec stack (that is all MS + any codecs that are installed) there is little more we can do than attempt to identify issues and work with the parties to resolve them. In the past, we have attempted to reach out to a codec pack manufacturer to resolve such an issue and they were not receptive. Unfortunately, there is little more we can do beyond offering to work with them.

Shark007 fixed playback issues for LiveTV long ago in his codec pack. I have been using it for Live/Recorded TV for over a year and everything works fine on my HTPC where I can even bitstream 7.1 dts-HD/MA on it and switch back and forth to LiveTV with a click of a button. It even switches from a custom 24p (23.9755fps) to 60Hz on the fly and back when playing a Blu-ray rip. When the echo was announced as the "extender you've been waiting for" this is what was expected by me and a lot of others on here. The fact that it doesn't do this is disheartening and to see it blamed elsewhere is troubling. The fact that it constantly looses connection and reboots is even more troubling. I hope that the android solution comes out soon and all is good in the world again.

Shark007 fixed playback issues for LiveTV long ago in his codec pack. I have been using it for Live/Recorded TV for over a year and everything works fine on my HTPC where I can even bitstream 7.1 dts-HD/MA on it and switch back and forth to LiveTV with a click of a button. It even switches from a custom 24p (23.9755fps) to 60Hz on the fly and back when playing a Blu-ray rip. When the echo was announced as the "extender you've been waiting for" this is what was expected by me and a lot of others on here. The fact that it doesn't do this is disheartening and to see it blamed elsewhere is troubling. The fact that it constantly looses connection and reboots is even more troubling. I hope that the android solution comes out soon and all is good in the world again.

The OP has a different scenario - unless I'm mis-understanding, it works on his extender, but not on his PC itself.

However this error sounds like it may be tied to using an AVR (usually) and often disabling the navigation sounds fixes this... I have also heard of people being able to fix it by outputting the sound to something other than hdmi with some success... if it is the error I am thinking of, it implies its a video error but is really an audio error (I believe it has something to do with pcm stereo navigation sounds and 5.1 dolby digital of the program).

I had errors where the video stops playing almost instantly and it was fixed by disabling the WMC navigation sounds. No idea why - when it worked I did not bother to dive any deeper into it.

I had errors where the video stops playing almost instantly and it was fixed by disabling the WMC navigation sounds. No idea why - when it worked I did not bother to dive any deeper into it.

While I can try to this, and I am assuming that this can be found in the WMC settings, it still seems as though that this is only a bandage fix and not a cure for the real problem. I am at work now but I will try tonight to unistall and then restart my CPU to see if this works. Then I will try to fool around with my AVR before I disable the sound on WMC.

Disabling the sound is easy, fast, and free. Might as well try it first before doing other things...you can enable it again just as easily, fast, and freely as you disabled it. If it works, you are done. If it does not, no real effort or time lost.

Quote:

How to turn off visual and sound effects in Windows Media Center

To turn off visual and sound effects:-
1.On the Start Screen ,scroll to Tools>Settings>Click General>Click Visual and Sound Effects.
2.Now clear the check box against Use transition animation or, Play sounds when navigating Windows Media Center.

In doing a little more reading on the subject since I believe that it is being "caused" by the use of an AVR, 5.1 audio, and navigation sounds and was asked what else they could try... I have read that for some, the key is actually to make sure windows audio and media center audio are not the same. This is opposite as what I was led to believe before as my understanding it was some avrs having a problem handling "both" stereo and 5.1 simultaneously... Audio isn't my thing as I can't hear nearly any dialogue any more and now rely on captions and the use of a bluetooth headset to now listen to tv as it is either that or rock the building by having the volume way up just to hear the words.

IF YOU ARE HOOKING UP YOUR HTPC VIA HDMI AND YOU GET THIS ERROR TRY THIS:

1) From Windows Desktop.. Open Control Panel. Open your Audio Settings ..Select your HDMI Connection. If you have the HDMI set to 5.1 or 7.1 for speakers set it to 2.0 Stereo.

There is a bug/problem with navigation sounds in Media Center that will give you this error if your Windows 7 Audio is set to 5.1 or 7.1. Setting this to Stereo 2.0 fixes this. You do NOT need both Windows 7 audio and Media Center Audio set to 5.1 for it to work.

2) Open Media Center.. Go to Tasks. Set your Speaker Configuration to 5.1 or 7.1 depending on your speaker set up.

This will allow you to get 5.1 or 7.1 surround out of Media Center even though Windows 7 sounds are set to stereo 2.0.

For some reason naviagation sounds trigger HDCP and you will get a Grey Screen with this Error.

I had a rough time at first until I found that this solved the problem.

If you are getting this error and are not using HDMI for your Audio/Video then you may have another issue...

newfiend~

According to a later post in the same thread this allows one to keep navigation sounds while still outputting 5.1 through media center

that was not an AVR problem but rather an audio driver problem which causes WMC fails to get exclusive mode on the audio device. I encountered this with an Intel IGP and update the driver fixed my issue.

I used to use the fix signcarver posted, but found I can set Windows to 5.x and WMC to 7.x if I turn off the navigation sounds. I would rather have Windows audio set to the highest then have boops, beeps, and swish noises.

that was not an AVR problem but rather an audio driver problem which causes WMC fails to get exclusive mode on the audio device. I encountered this with an Intel IGP and update the driver fixed my issue.

I agree it is not an AVR problem, as its a bug in the computer... whether it is audio drivers, WMC or windows itself I don't know, and I had put "caused" in quotes as trying to say not really but if one didn't use the AVR it would also work. I always mention the AVR when reporting it as it generally only happens when using an AVR as HDMI to TV will usually work (I assume the TV is just "stereo" at least by default and that's the reason). I had also heard that there were some AVRs that didn't behave that way and that sometimes updating the firmware in the AVR also fixed it... whether or not this is true I don't know just reports I had read.

By the way, I am not sure this will fix the OPs problem.. as his error mentioned the decoder. I have found several references online for his "decoder" issue, rather than just "video error" that seem to indicate that the order of powering devices on and off seemed to make a difference, that using an HDMI detective has fixed it (at least in some cases) and to make sure specifically the HDMI drivers for the graphics card are up to date etc.as it apparently it is a handshake issue... like I said before, I don't do audio other than wearing a head set while watching captions as I can't hear voices clearly unless I turn the volume up 3-4 times louder (by volume setting... i.e. I need 35+ while others like it at 10) than is comfortable for others in the room and the voices I do hear clearly are the ones only I can hear

Well here are a few more things. I tried turning off the sounds in WMC and that didn't work, It seems as thought it is a handshake issue with HDMI. Right before I started to type this post, I was not getting any audio from anything on my cpu, not from WMC, youtube, cnn, etc, My AVR was not showing the customer L R sound indicators on the screen letting me it can produce sound. Then I came to this page and my mouse went over one of the advertisements and this page and all of a sudden my sound came back. It was working on youtube vidoes, cnn etc, however it still is not working on WMC. As a matter of fact, i just went in to WMC to test it again and immediately, my LR light went off and now that I am back to this sight, when I go over the same advertisment, no sound.

I will say this though. I am no longer getting the video error. I am acutally getting the picture now for both live, MKV or recorded TV, I am however not getting sound.

Shark007 fixed playback issues for LiveTV long ago in his codec pack. I have been using it for Live/Recorded TV for over a year and everything works fine on my HTPC where I can even bitstream 7.1 dts-HD/MA on it and switch back and forth to LiveTV with a click of a button. It even switches from a custom 24p (23.9755fps) to 60Hz on the fly and back when playing a Blu-ray rip. When the echo was announced as the "extender you've been waiting for" this is what was expected by me and a lot of others on here. The fact that it doesn't do this is disheartening and to see it blamed elsewhere is troubling. The fact that it constantly looses connection and reboots is even more troubling. I hope that the android solution comes out soon and all is good in the world again.

The OP has a different scenario - unless I'm mis-understanding, it works on his extender, but not on his PC itself.

Well here are a few more things. I tried turning off the sounds in WMC and that didn't work, It seems as thought it is a handshake issue with HDMI. Right before I started to type this post, I was not getting any audio from anything on my cpu, not from WMC, youtube, cnn, etc, My AVR was not showing the customer L R sound indicators on the screen letting me it can produce sound. Then I came to this page and my mouse went over one of the advertisements and this page and all of a sudden my sound came back. It was working on youtube vidoes, cnn etc, however it still is not working on WMC. As a matter of fact, i just went in to WMC to test it again and immediately, my LR light went off and now that I am back to this sight, when I go over the same advertisment, no sound.

I will say this though. I am no longer getting the video error. I am acutally getting the picture now for both live, MKV or recorded TV, I am however not getting sound.

Thansk

Sometimes this happens where the system is muted. I think it is an HDCP issue but not sure. A reboot clears it up for me.